Smiths dock continue to set the pace in the North Yorkshire EBA League.

This week they had a crushing 8-0 win over Nunthorpe, scoring over a 100 shots in the process. Steve Slaughter (E. Race, K. Dolan and F. Thompson) beat David Hearn 34-13, Stuart Hill (G. Allen, T. Redfearn and S. Moremon) were 27-15 winners over Ian Lambert and Ian Daniell (K. Meadows, B. Horfield and J. Gillespie beat Alan Sanderson 23-13. In the closest of the four games Tommy Addison (J. Livingstone, J. Pierre and P. Dolan) beat Phil Clarke 20-15 to make the final score Smiths Dock 104, Nunthorpe 56.

Smiths Dock are currently eight points clear at the top of the league but in one of the most open competitions for many years any one of the teams in the top half of the league could win the title.

After an indifferent start Thornaby have entered the race for the title with a stunning run over their last six games in which they have amassed 41 points which includes scoring over 300 shots in their last three games.

On Monday they had a splendid 7-1 win at Northallerton with Ged Davidson (D. Robinson, G. Nicholson and T. Mosley) playing a starring role by beating J. Vivers 31-7.

Charlie Harvey (R. Stephenson, F.Osbourne and B. Etherington) beat T. Margerrison 28-18 and Phil Rowland (K. Sturman, G. Dunning and P. Hogg) scored a single on the last end to beat S. Arnott 25-24. Bob Matthews (D.Bennett, J. Birbeck and C. Garnsey) almost make it a clean sweep but they dropped two shots on the last end to lose 17-18. The final score was Northallerton 67, Thornaby 101.

Smiths Dock are also leading the way in the Middlesbrough League although they are being chased by Cochranes, Guisborough KGV and Thornaby Village.

PHIL Stoker (Middlesbrough) has certainly made his mark in his first full season in the Yorkshire County competitions. Playing with Paul Mosley, John Harris and Derek Archer he has qualified for the National Fours Championships to be played at Worthing next month and with Paul Mosley and John Harris he will also be in the Triples championships.

On Monday the Stoker rink travelled to Kirkbymoorside where they beat a rink from York RI Amateurs in the Yorkshire semi finals and on Tuesday they went to Pickering where they beat the Hutton Cranswick trio skipped by Les Smith. On Wednesday Vinny O'Neill and Shaun O'Brien (Middlesbrough) and Ray Graham and Neal Cummings (Marske) qualified for the county semi-finals of the Pairs competition.

The quarter final stage had been washed out the previous week so the competition is running a week behind the others.

Tomorrow the Regional Finals of the National Top Fours competition will be played at Middlesbrough Bowling Club where the current holders of the title, Yorkshire, will start the defence of their title.

LAST Saturday the South Durham and North Yorkshire Works League held their Open Singles tournament, with the preliminary rounds involving 60 competitors being held at the Littleboy Park,Thornaby and Cochranes BC.

The final could not have been closer with Eddie Loughran (RAOB) just edging out Peter Watkins (Middlesbrough) with a score of 21-20.

THE Cleveland County Under-25s team has won the Northern Area EBF League and thereby qualified to meet the Southern Area champions in the EBF National Finals which will be held in Skegness next month.

This is the first time that the team has reached this stage of the competition and they have done it with a team averaging just 18 years old, including 10-year-old Joshua Shaw and 11-year-old Shaun Morgan.

The youngsters had a nail-biting time waiting for the vital result of the game between Derbyshire and Humberside, but things went their way and they eventually qualified by just two points

THE Cleveland County senior teams both did well. The Adams team had their best result of the season with a 184 (22pts), 125 (4pts) win over Derbyshire with Bill Hall, T. Gilbert and D. Richards excelling with a 47-9 win.

The Newton team also played Derbyshire and turned a 12 shots deficit into a 13 shots win, keeping open their hopes of reaching the National Finals.

Cleveland have two more games, today and a week tomorrow, both at Smiths Dock.